Crops on 500 acres submerged
Fatehabad, July 9
Water logging in over 500 acres of agricultural land near the Chilli pond, near here, has submerged standing vegetable and paddy crops. Farmers have suffered heavy losses due to the accumulation of waters in the fields.

Sushma flays Centre for Ayodhya attack
Ambala, July 9
The BJP’s national spokesperson, Mrs Sushma Swaraj today criticised the Central Government and the Uttar Pradesh Government for the terrorist attack in Ayodhya.
Talking to mediapersons here, Mrs Swaraj said the UP Chief Minister, Mr Mulayam Singh, had not bothered till today to visit the incident spot.

Hearing on Malhotra’s revision plea
on July 11
Hisar, July 9
A local court yesterday fixed July 11 as the next date of hearing on a revision petition filed by senior BJP leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra in a case pertaining to the alleged defamation of former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal.

Property worth Rs 70 crore amassed by ‘satta kings’
Sonepat, July 9
Officials of the Income Tax Department along with the police and officials of various nationalised banks have so far detected wealth and property worth Rs 70 crore owned by Mohan Madan, owner of Krishna Guest House here, and his brother Raju Madan, who are said to be the king of match fixing and satta in the state.

Temporary bundhs breached
Sirsa, July 9
Swollen Ghaggar waters continued to play havoc in villages in the district for the second day today. Standing crops in over a dozen villages have been damaged after the water entered the fields.

6,500 teachers not paid salary for 7 months
Hisar, July 9
The Haryana Rajkiya Adhyapak Sangh has urged the state government to immediately release the salary of the 6,500 teachers working in government schools by making necessary provision in the budget.

Solar project: German help sought
Chandigarh, July 9
The Haryana Government has sought assistance from Germany for introducing solar energy for use by the textile industry in Panipat.

Bhaniarawala produced in court
Ambala, July 9
Baba Bhaniarawala was today produced in a city court amidst tight security.
A police official said that
apparently Baba Bhaniarawala was facing a threat to his life
from terrorists.

Fatehabad, July 9
Water logging in over 500 acres of agricultural land near the Chilli pond, near here, has submerged standing vegetable and paddy crops. Farmers have suffered heavy losses due to the accumulation of waters in the fields.

Heavy rain during the week and draining of rainwater of Fatehabad town into the pond has led to the accumulation of 2 to 3 feet of water in over 500 acres near the Shakti Nagar locality. Brij Lal, Mango Lal and Bhajan Lal, rued that the district administration about arrangements to avert floods in the district, but had been doing little to mitigate their sufferings.

Meanwhile, reports of houses collapsing due to rains were received from Bighar village and Swami Nagar today. Cracks have developed in the houses of Partap. Kailash, Balu Ram, Jassi Ram and Jeet Ram.

Ambala, July 9
The BJP’s national spokesperson, Mrs Sushma Swaraj today criticised the Central Government and the Uttar Pradesh Government for the terrorist attack in Ayodhya.
Talking to mediapersons here, Mrs Swaraj said the UP Chief Minister, Mr Mulayam Singh, had not bothered till today to visit the incident spot.

She said senior BJP leaders led by BJP President L.K. Advani visited the incident site in Ayodhya yesterday. “It is clear that the safety arrangement was lax and the Ram Mandir became a soft target,” she said.

Mrs Swaraj said terrorists had been planning to target the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya since 1992. “During our government, we used to receive information that terrorist attack was possible. But, militants could not reach the site,” she said. “We have learnt that a week before the Ayodhya incident, the UP Director General of Police had sought scaling down of security and the deployment of security personnel was reduced,” she added.

She said during their visit they found that a large piece of pipe in the inner cordon was missing. “We were told that the pipe had been broken by the CRPF personnel to allow them easier access to the other side. This clearly raises several questions,” she said.

Mrs Swaraj said no action was taken by the UP Government even after the Central Government passed on information to it. “The outer cordon was being managed by the PAC while the inner cordon was managed by the CRPF. There has been laxity on the part the state government as well as union government,” she said.

She said they had already demanded that the Union Home Minister and the Home Minister of Uttar Pradesh should step down.

To a query, Mrs Swaraj said London terror attacks had cleared the misconception that only poor or Asian countries like India were facing
terrorism

Kaithal, July 9
A senior Congress leader, Mr Shamsher Singh Surjewala, has demanded the running of circular trains on the Delhi-Kaithal route.

While addressing mediapersons here today, Mr Surjewala said he had written a letter to the Railway Ministry to start two new trains for the benefit of the population of the state, including that of Kaithal and other parts of this district.

He said the train would not only bring economic prosperity, as they would open more business avenues for residents of important towns of the state, but would be very convenient for thousands of passengers deprived of a good train service on this route.

Mr Surjewala disclosed that soon the work on a new canal from Azimgarh to Anta would be started and completed within the next two years. The canal would pass through a number of villages of this district and augment irrigation and drinking water schemes in the area.

Hisar, July 9
A local court yesterday fixed July 11 as the next date of hearing on a revision petition filed by senior BJP leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra in a case pertaining to the alleged defamation of former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal.

As national spokesperson for the BJP, Mr Malhotra had mentioned the name of the Haryana Congress president, Mr Bhajan Lal, in a controversial petrol station allotment issue at a press conference in New Delhi a few years ago.

Following this, Mr Bhajan Lal’s son, Mr Kuldeep Bishnoi, had filed a defamation suit against Mr Malhotra in a Hisar court. Mr Malhotra later filed a revision petition in the court.

The court of Additional Sessions Judge
A. N. Manocha was to hear the case yesterday, but Mr Malhotra’s lawyer did not appear in the court. Due to this, the Judge fixed the next hearing for July 11.

Sonepat, July 9
Officials of the Income Tax Department along with the police and officials of various nationalised banks have so far detected wealth and property worth Rs 70 crore owned by Mohan Madan, owner of Krishna Guest House here, and his brother Raju Madan, who are said to be the king of match fixing and satta in the state.

According to a report, a deposit of Rs 6 crore has been detected in a nationalised bank at Chandni Chowk, Delhi, in an account opened by them allegedly with the help of high-ranking officer of the Haryana Government posted in this district. The inquiry was started when the police complained to the authorities of the Income Tax Department alleging that the brothers had amassed wealth and property by objectionable means. The officials of the inquiry team have also exposed names of some high-ranking officers of the state government who are backing the brothers. They have sent the report to higher authorities for further action.

Both brothers had been involved in a number of criminal cases registered at different police stations in the district. The police had conducted a raid at Krishna Guest House on May 28 and arrested as many as 25 persons engaged in satta and match fixing. The brothers, however, had managed to get anticipatory bail from the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Sirsa, July 9
Swollen Ghaggar waters continued to play havoc in villages in the district for the second day today. Standing crops in over a dozen villages have been damaged after the water entered the fields.

The river has damaged temporary bundhs erected by farmers.

According to officials of the Irrigation Department, though the seasonal rivulet is flowing much below the danger mark, the farmers are trying to protect their crops. The district authorities are helping the farmers repair the bundhs.

A number of villages, including Nejadela Kalan, Farwani and Meerpur, are on alert. The Superintending Engineer, Mr M.C. Goel, said there was no threat in the district as the discharge was just 4,000 cusecs, much below the danger level. However, he admitted that crops in a several villages had been damaged due to the seasonal rivulet. This happened as temporary bundhs erected by the farmers in their fields had been breached. He said such a situation was “routine”.

Meanwhile, two officials of the Irrigation Department, including an SDO, had a miraculous escape. Overlooking repair work on bundhs at Nejadela village, near here, the SDO and a JE escaped with injuries when the spot on the embankment where they were standing caved in.

Villagers and other officials rushed to their help and dragged them out of the trench.

Hisar, July 9
The Haryana Rajkiya Adhyapak Sangh has urged the state government to immediately release the salary of the 6,500 teachers working in government schools by making necessary provision in the budget.

Talking to The Tribune here today, Mr Ram Kishan Punia, press secretary of the association, pointed out that these teachers, who had been appointed through Zila Parishads at a fixed salary of Rs 5,000 per month, had not been given salary for the past seven months.

Mr Punia said the Haryana Education Minister, Mr Phool Chand Mulana, had promised that the services of these teachers would soon be brought under the ambit of the Education Department so that they got their salaries in time.

“However, nearly two months have passed since the minister made this announcement, but nothing has been done in this regard so far,” he said.

The teachers’ body welcomed the government’s move to teach English from Class 1 in government schools. At the same time, it urged the government to appoint B.Ed teachers in the primary schools to achieve the desired aim.

Mr Punia alleged that the authorities concerned had not sent new books to be distributed among the girls and Dalit students under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan, even though around three months had passed since the beginning of the academic session.

Chandigarh, July 9
The Haryana Government has sought assistance from Germany for introducing solar energy for use by the textile industry in Panipat.

A project prepared by the Haryana Renewable Energy Development Agency (HAREDA) sought German assistance to the tune of 80 per cent for the Rs 94 crore project. It has been proposed that while 25 per cent of the funding can be treated as grant, the remaining amount can be advanced as loan.

The proposal, submitted by HAREDA, said Panipat town had grown as the hub of the handloom industry in northern India. The total production of the handloom and powerloom sectors of Panipat was about Rs 2,000 crore per annum. The textile units used hot water extensively for rope washing, bleaching, dyeing, etc. Mainly wood, diesel and electric power were used to heat water. The requirements, according to HAREDA, could be met through the use of solar flat-plate collectors and concentrators.

Ambala, July 9
Sepoy Harjinder Singh of Tepla village attained martyrdom while fighting militants in the valley yesterday.

Sepoy Harjinder Singh had joined 13 Sikh Regiment in July, 1998, and he was married in 2001. He leaves behind his two-year-old son Harshdeep and wife Charanjeet Kaur.

Sepoy Harjinder Singh’s cremation is expected to take place tomorrow. Sepoy Harjinder Singh’s father Jaswant Singh is retired from the Army and his four uncles have also served in the Army. A younger brother of Sepoy Harjinder Singh, Sepoy Rajinder Singh is also serving in the valley.

A pall of gloom descended in Tepla village when the news of Sepoy Harjinder Singh’s death was received at 11 am yesterday. It may be recalled that Major Gurpreet Singh of Tepla village had also attained martyrdom from the same village about six years back.

Ambala, July 9
Baba Bhaniarawala was today produced in a city court amidst tight security.

Heavy police arrangement had been undertaken in the court complex. Baba Bhaniarawala was produced in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate.

A police official said that apparently Baba Bhaniarawala was facing a threat to his life from terrorists. Arrangements had been made to ensure that no untoward incident took place while he was being produced in court.

Baba Bhaniarawala is facing cases following desecration of the holy book of a particular community. In one of the cases today, two witnesses, Kanwaljeet and Darshan Singh, were cross-examined.

Ambala, July 9
Haryana Health Minister Kartar Devi today said 450 nurses were to be recruited for Civil Hospitals. Ms Kartar Devi had come here to preside over a district grievances committee meeting. She said a committee has been formed with regard to selection of nurses.

She said action would be taken if it was found that medicine shops in hospitals, which are supposed to sell drugs at reasonable prices, were overcharging. She directed the Civil Surgeon to enquire into the allegation that doctors were prescribing medicines from the market even though medicines were available in the hospital store.

Faridabad, July 9
Ms Omwati, representing ward number 13 was elected as new Chairperson of the Local Zila Parishad here today. She defeated her opponent Ms Kamla Devi of ward number 9 by a margin of three votes in the election held at Panchayat Bhavan at Ballabhgarh town.

Though the seat of the Chairman had been reserved for woman, the post of the Vice-Chairperson, which was open, also went to a woman.

Ms Omwati, wife of Virender, and a resident of Chandhut village, got 14 votes, while her rival got 11 votes. Ms Preeti, wife of Raj Singh, and representative of ward number 16, was elected as Vice-Chairperson after defeating Mr Vinod Kumar of ward number 2 by a margin of four votes.